Archive for the ‘County Executive’ Category

The following spreadsheet is a breakdown of County Executive votes from 2002 and 2006. Interestingly enough, Chris Merdon had a very large jump in the number of votes over Steve Adler than Ken Ulman did over Jim Robey. Not that it matters now…

What will be interesting to see is the next voter registration data base. From that we can see what the turn out was by party affiliation.

Playing with these numbers earlier I came to the unscientific conclusion that independents called this race. I think up to 70% voted for Ulman. I think voter turn out for democrats was lighter than 2002.

Working from the left side you will see the polling location followed by 2006 results by candidate. Then you will see the 2002 results by candidate. Then you will see the differences between the two election cylces.

What was difficult about this exercise was that today we have more polling places than we did in 2002. Where I could I combined the numbers under 2002 and under difference headings.

It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood. Who errs, and comes short again and again (but)… who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory or defeat.

Couple updates for you. While I have been in the field we had only one sign vandalized. Great news.

Sign vandalism and the such….

In Columbia Merdon poll workers arrived to find that Merdon signs had been altered. Someone (we don’t know who) placed “Support Bush” signs on and/or next to Merdon’s signs. The police came and took them away upon request of the Howard County GOP and the Board of Elections.

Additionally, Chris Merdon’s sister-in-law was working at Guilford Elementary when Lou Ulman approached her with a Ken Ulman yard sign in hand and planted it directly in front of her Merdon yard sign. She promptly placed the sign in the ground next to the Merdon sign. Lou Ulman began to yell at her saying along the lines of “Now you have too many signs.” Don’t ask me. He then began to kick the Merdon sign – get this – in front of a Howard County Police Officer who looked at Mr. Ulman and waived Mr. Ulman over to his car and told him to stop.

Finally, Ken Ulman’s mother complained that Merdon’t 8 foot signs were too tall and as such illegal. A democratic judge came out to review the situation and told Mrs. Ulman that a call to the board of elections would quickly resolve the matter. The call did resolve the matter and the signs remain in place.

This just in. A photograph of Ken Ulman’s mobile billboard within 100 feet of the no campaigning line. No one is complaining to the board of elections – I am just complaining here.

In a continuation of his negative campaign tactics Ken Ulman has taken to targeting neighborhoods with flyers targeted specifically to development issues in those neighborhoods. Read the rest of this entry »

Democrat, member of Harper’s Choice Village Board, and Community Activist Rebecca Johnson has issued a Letter to the Editor regarding Ken Ulman’s press conference yesterday. It is doubtful that the letter will be published at this late date so here it is for you to read. Read the rest of this entry »

The Columbia Association’s Board of Directors found no merit in the claims brought forth by Mr. Santos against Ms. Russell and Ms. Coyle regarding their political endorsements. The Board also found no merit in the claims against Mr. von Schlag by Ms. Coyle regarding his prior political involvement. In addition, the Board received a legal opinion that indicated there was no violation of Internal Revenue Service Rules.